Design of a control system for acoustophoretic separation

This paper presents the design and implementation of an embedded digital control system for a novel acoustophoretic separation technique. Currently, there is a need for efficient separation technologies for multi-component liquid streams that eliminate waste, reduce the required energy and promote a sustainable environment. Our goal is to design, build, and test a high-frequency, high-power, and high-efficiency ultrasound driver for an acoustophoretic separator The device needs to be able to efficiently transfer electrical energy into acoustical energy with minimum losses and be able to drive the low impedance of a typical piezo-electric transducer. The proposed new platform technology provides an innovative solution that consists of a large volume flow rate acoustophoretic phase separator based on ultrasonic standing waves with the benefit of having no consumables, no generated waste, and a low cost of energy. The technology is efficient at removal of particles of greatly varying sizes, including separation of micron and sub-micron sized particles. The proposed embedded digital control system (drive system) utilizes a TMS320F28335 digital signal processor / controller chip [2] at its core.